Mallory Quinn is just your everyday witch. Badass, honorable, and able to go toe to toe with the best whiskey drinker this side of Tennessee, but when NASA comes to recruit her for a daring space rescue, she'll find herself among a motley crew of the supernatural world. Their goal is simple, keep the evil lord Zug of space planet Maverick from acquiring the Gideon cube and using its immense power to rain down destruction on earth. Sounds easy right? Well, it would be if not for the niggling thirty-six hour timeline that started yesterday...
When New York Times Bestselling author, J. A. Cipriano was in second grade, his teacher gave everyone in class a journal to write down whatever they wanted. Their first subject was to write about something they didn’t like. J. A. chose to write about why he didn’t like writing. His reasoning was simple. He had bad handwriting. Even then, he was destined to be an engineer due to his messy scrawl.
Unfortunately, he found through the course of this little adventure that he actually liked writing. That year was sort of the high point for his writing career because he won a writing contest for the state. He got to go to a big dinner and his teacher was all dressed up.
He kept writing little stories, year after year, and in sixth grade, won another contest. In seventh grade, he broke his arm and got the cast signed by both Dean Koontz and Stan Lee. It is, by far, the coolest cast he’s owned. That was about the time he found video games and anime. His writing turned mostly toward fanfiction until about ninth grade when he wrote his first novel, a small book about twenty thousand words called Revelations. In sophomore year, he wrote two more books to complete the trilogy because he saw Star Wars that year and learned trilogies were the cool thing to do.
He rewrote Revelations during his senior year, and his wife swears it is the best thing he’s written. J.A. is not so sure. Every time he reads it, he cringes, but then again, he hates everything he writes, so there is that.
It was about that time, he got heavily involved in a fanfiction writing group, but that isn’t one hundred percent accurate. It was a world based on a popular anime but everything was created especially for this world. It made it so that every story someone wrote was unique.
Imagine writing a Star Wars novel set 1,000 years after A New Hope, where everything that happened was a distant memory and you get the idea. You have the force, some distant memories of the past, and that’s pretty much it.
He wrote about a million words (863K to be exact) for them before he decided to do his own thing. He wrote another novel. He put it in a drawer. He wrote another one that eventually became the basis for The Hatter is Mad. His next novel was Kill It With Magic, his first real novel. It’s not bad, but it’s bumpy. This is unfortunate because the books get loads better as the series progresses.
Since then, he’s written six more novels, four of which are in the Lillim Callina Series, and one in the Abby Banks series. The other is stuck in a drawer for time undetermined. He’s writing his next book now which is about werewolves fighting mummies in Ancient Egypt. After that, he will move onto Abby Banks 2. The Spy Within will come out in June or July.
J.A. also has three chinchillas. Two of them are grey, and because of this, they are named Slate and Cadmium. The third is named Jet because he’s black, and Jet is old English for black. See, creative. He also has a cat named Turtle. This does pose problems for his two-year-old from time to time.
Maverick: A Supernatural Space Opera Novel (Witching on a Starship Book 1) by J. A. Cipriano is a funny new sci-fi/fantasy series that kept me laughing all the way through the book. A very unconventional but powerful witch, a fish being, a werewolf, vampire, and a half cyborg are teamed up to save the world but have to go into space to do this. Ensues is a hilarious adventure that is full of action and craziness that is such a fun read I had to finish it in one go! If this is what the new series is going to be like I will not miss one book! It is awesome! Great plot, fun dialogue, crazy characters, funny situations, and laugh out loud fun. Enjoyed this book thoroughly.
I read a lot and because of this I'm always on the lookout for another good author. This ticked a few boxes for me as follows: Sci-Fi, paranormal, good reviews, funny and sexy.
OMG! What a waste of my time. It's awful. The science is lame, the magic world building is non-existent with the heroine's ability inconsistent and "all powerful". The magic energy she expends is off the charts, yet can be topped off by consuming the odd snickers bar.
The bad guys are simple one dimensional cardboard cutouts and simply evil. They all come from 'Space Planet Maverick' and even the bad guys use the full title when referring to their own home world.
The writing is always first person perspective and there is very little introspection by the main character. Due to the pace and all the 'doing' there is no time spent on describing feelings or the physical environment and the reader will not find this an immersive experience. General sentence construction and grammar is pretty good. I noticed about twenty typos of one type or another.
The main character, is a young lesbian who has just had a major relationship fail. Unfortunately she has no redeeming qualities and is simply a self-involved angsty little b*tch. She's not likeable in any way. Her sexuality is expressed by occasionally admiring (ogling) another female character's assets. She's not likeable. There are no sex scenes. I'm not clear why the book or character might be labelled 'sexy'.
The book is meant to be funny. It's NOT FUNNY AT ALL.
I'm very puzzled by the high review scores. Avoid this book.
I have enjoyed reading several books written by Mr. Cipriano, so I expected to like this one, too.
However, this book just didn't work for me. I did not like any of the characters, which makes it hard for me to enjoy a book. The story was very disjointed and silly at times.
Mallory Quinn is a bank robbing witch who is recruited to help save the world from the alien race called Mavericks. She has the typical snarkiness I usually love in Mr. Cipriano's characters.
Also, his trademark use of pop culture references are sprinkled throughout the book. However, this time they didn't really add to the story.
I am not a prude, but the language used by every single character detracted from the story, IMHO. It seemed very overdone and tiresome. Also, Mallory's sexual orientation was frequently mentioned but added nothing to the book.
The narrator seemed like she was trying to get through the book as quickly as possible. And, her voice for Oliver sounded like Scooby Doo or Goofy.
I was given the opportunity to listen to this audiobook by the author/narrator/publisher and chose to review it.
I wanted to like this book. The premise sounded interesting. I got it through Audible and it was almost painful to listen to. The cursing in the book was really off putting. I can cuss well enough to make a sailor blanch but there is a proper way to add it to a story and then there is just bad writing. The cussing seem to me to be there just to fill word space. The characters were less than one dimensional. The production value of the Audible reading was awful too. There is nothing off putting the having the reader stop after mispronouncing a word and start the sentence over again.
This book would do much better as a saturday morning cartoon than as anything seriously related to literature. I mean, sure, loads of blowing things up, lots of fighting, lots of overpowered magic, tons of butt kicking, but it doesn't have anything in it that makes me care the least little bit about the characters, what they're trying to do, or even how they're going about doing it. It started out well enough, but it got rediculous way too fast to be considered readable. I just couldn't even pretend to care about these characters, the plot is almost nonexistent, the writing is juvenile, and if you found anything useful in this book, then you did better than me. I know there's at least one more book in this series, and I don't even care. No, I'm not going to torture myself with the effort it would take to read another installment in this series. It's just too much. In fact, I returned the second one unopened to kindle unlimited, because I didn't even want to be bothered, and for me, that's a first. If you're a five year old hopped up on sugar, this book would be an excellent story if someone else told it to you, but I can't see any other use for this story.
This was a solid and entertaining book. I was wondering how a space opera might take form and I think it did the genre proud. The Narration Talents of Eli Walker really made the main character come to life and just really seemed to fit her. I also liked the nod to throwing everything including the kitchen sink into the paranormal novel. Robot, Vampire, Werewolf, and Witch, this book was brimming with enough archetypes to sink it, but they didn't. The story was balanced and well written by Cipriano. My only complaint might be that it was stuffed with too many mini stories, but that is really just being touchy, because even with all of the stories it was still a very good book.
This is a great setting, the world building is very well done, I formed a vivid mental picture of what was happening.
The characters and unique and unexpected. Their actions and interactions kept me laughing and wanting to know what happens next.
The narration was well done, the character voices were fantastic the delivery was good. There are several mistakes that haven't been edited out which is a bit annoying.
I received a free copy of this book from the author and/or narrator and/or publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Audio version. A great start to a series. Your gonna love Mallory. I'm looking forward to the next part. The narrator brings the story to life. Though there were several places where the book repeated a line. This Audiobook was given to me for free at my request from the publisher, author or narrator and I provided this unbiased voluntary review. Reasons I enjoyed this book: Unpredictable Original, Page-turner, Action-packed, Entertaining, Funny, Great world building, Easy-to-read, Wonderful characters.
Maverick is a blast! The story, about a somewhat neurotic witch who travels to space to save the world with a supernatural crew, is unique and hilarious, though definitely aimed at an adult audience. Think Hellboy plus Star Trek, but funnier and with a female lead. The girl is gay (perhaps bi), so and if you find that unappealing, this may not be the book for you.
The audio book narrator's voice is a bit abrasive, but she is perfect for the role.
Contains adult language and odd sexual situations.
Guardians of the galaxy meets twenty-sided sorceress. In which an unlikely heroine is called upon to save the world from fanatical space aliens hellbent on destruction. This is a fast paced action filled tale with a generous helping of skillfully meted humorous pop culture references. A thoroughly enjoyable read that I felt ended too soon and can hardly bear to wait for the sequel.
Going to read the next one. Though the ideas here are really cool, the main character spent most of this book spending equal amounts of time being less likable the the villain of the piece. Thankfully, it got better, and you could finally see that there was value to the story. Light on anything technical, but fun dialogue and hopefully a good story.
Reads like a spaz high on full retard. I want my few hours back reading this. Probably entertaining to some, just not my cup of...ah eff it. I cant even stretch the tolerance here. It was crap.
Mallory has just gone through a bad breakup, when she gets drafted into a secret agency to stop aliens from the Space Planet Maverick from destroying the earth.
Funny, funny, I love some comedy in a book. Mallory's life will never be the same, always a star chaser with a kick butt attitude. Lots of magic, a werewolf and a vampire to save the world. Fast-paced reading, good storyline, exceptional writing. Wonderful storytelling, a have to read this book!
Mallory is special kind of witch with a playboy father and a seer mother. One day, after robbing a bank, she is recruited by the FBI to save the planet. What happens next is a fun, non-stop, action/adventure thrilling book. Every single time I read a book by Mr. Cipriano, I am surprised at how much I enjoy it and don’t want to put it down. Of course, this book was no exception! His characters are interesting, the plot is different, and the book is highly entertaining which is all I ask from a book I am reading. Yes, you do have to suspend your disbelief a little bit, but this is urban fantasy. If you are looking for a fun, action-filled, fast urban fantasy, look no further! Highly recommend! Thanks to the author for the e-book which I reviewed voluntarily. This exact review will be posted on both Amazon and Goodreads.
Mallory Quinn is an off beat powerful witch. She tends to be selfish, but has a weird code of honor. She is drafted into being part of a team whose mission is to save the world from Zug the Maverick. She learns to care about her team as they cooperate to prevail. I liked the weird humor, characters and story. I hope there will be more books about Mallory and her team.
I recommend this book if you need a good laugh and like space fantasy stories and zany characters. The writing was good, the pace fast, and I laughed at all the one liners and references to pop culture. I really laughed hysterically when a vampire complained that mystical creatures did not exist! It was one crazy scene after another and insane plans to save Earth. I
Quite a few chuckles came from me. Book needs some work, but I recommend it for anyone into sci-fi/fantasy. Will read the next in series when released.
JA can definitely spin a fun tale. And having the main character as a lesbian dovetails nicely into the whole kick butt heroine genre and gives a nice twist to a book that could be cookie cutter. The problem is the book flirts with the frankly offensive "I could make you straight" romance (and no, a throwaway line about "maybe I'm a bit bi" doesn't help). I hope the author is smart enough to avoid this in future books. Overall, fun and we'll done.